One Synth Challenge #108: Diodow by HrastProgrammer (Schiing Wins!)

[Frostline]

Diodow is making me feel like dodo and kicking my butt.

Glad to see it is not just me.
Just spent the last 3 hours trying to figure out why one patch was causing my RT CPU to climb and would not stop until sent a "kill all midi" F3 command.
Turns out that stop/end box in the envelope section is rather important.


BTW are we close to an official ruling on the preset/sample issue?

[TheNeverScene]

BTW are we close to an official ruling on the preset/sample issue?

Don't know. TBH, my mind has been completely erased and can't even remember what the issue was. Flashes of Thorn, Zebralette and cottage cheese are all I can remember on the subject.

[zarf]

BTW are we close to an official ruling on the preset/sample issue?

Don't know. TBH, my mind has been completely erased and can't even remember what the issue was. Flashes of Thorn, Zebralette and cottage cheese are all I can remember on the subject.

LOL!
Guenon recommends we use the samples in the preset pack that is bundled with the synth 'LA' synthesis style - because we all have them.
Taron seems to agree but I'm not clear on that.
Toonertik wants to OK single cycle waveforms.
I think this synth is very capable without and I'm really surprised that we are even having this conversation! To me the spirit of the rules is clear and the answer - based on the past - would be No to all of it (E.g MPowerSynth - no, don't use the presets with samples; BR808 - no, don't touch the sample engine or use presets that do; Zebrallette - totally different, no sample engine; Thorn - yes, use the tiny amount of 'transient/perc samples' built in, or configure the spectral synthesis with samples, but don't add your own to the sample engine)

I'm very happy to go with the flow and bend / change rules - would love to have an official or consensus decision though

Edit: This was before my time, but a historical OSC reference that I guess a bunch of you will remember - the similar discussion when it was Alchemy month, with this guide by then OSC steward V'ger

[Taron]

One reliable crash I managed to figure out how to prevent it:
If I have Automation for FixedFreq, loading the project and just hitting play or going to any song position, where the Host will update the Automation, will trigger a crash when playing a note. However, if I bring up the GUI right after loading and alter the FixedFreq by hand while playing a note via midi, all will be well and I can continue working with the song.

So, yeah, the value gradients he used for modulation are simply unmodified. Which is, or should be, a fairly big "nono" , but there's always this eerie extortion argument "it's free". ...thing is, this synth has so much going for it, even with the exact amount of parameters, no more, no less, it has all it takes to be a lasting hit. It just takes some more due diligence to care for useful value remapping, giving this little beast and its developer a really good chance to make a proper splash. Right now it just comes across as gifted, but lazy, as much as I can imagine he'd hate reading that. But it's what it comes across like. Lazy is always better than careless or unable, right! So... I know through which troubles I went with my synths to get reasonable ranges and value remappings for each and every parameter. It's exhausting to take care of that, but well worth it!

[EvilDragon]

There won't be any value remapping, you can right away forget about it. It's not about laziness, it's about saving CPU as much as possible (especially with this number of parameters). Also, Hrast doesn't really want to "make a splash", sooo...

[Taron]

What a nons...EvilDragon, value remapping happens at input time, not taking away ANY processing, if one does it like I do it, except possibly during automation, which currently is anyway more or less a "hidden feature". These routines you pack into "SetParameter". I've mentioned that before, but never mind that.

[H-man]

Using midi to control parameters works.

I thought I had automation working in IL's Patcher but then I ran into the crashes. Don't waste your time

[Frostline]

Anyway, I hardly know Diodow, but it seems like you'd need an external solution for this, like a Reaper JSFX or a Max4Live thing that would swab the incoming MIDI data. How many here are using those two DAWs with Diodow?

Thanks for your work exploring the issue.
I'm using Reaper.
The best solution I have found is a plug-in from https://www.thepiz.org/plugins/?p=pizmidi.
Oddly I couldn't get the pitchbendtonote plug to work, but the midiTranspose (which I don't see listed on the page but was included in the package I download) works perfectly for what I wanted. My PB now does 12 up and down(just make sure to record midi output not midi input).
It is probably 'notchy' compared to a true pitch bend since it is changing the sent notes by semitones but I was not looking to slur/glide from one note to another.

It doesn't appear that Diodow exposes pitch parameters to my host.
I see detune(which I don't think would change actual pitch very far) and semitone(which I believe would mimic the 'notchy' nature of the plug in I'm using) parameters but I see nothing like the osc1-4pitch or global pitch parameters available in the Diodow mod matrix.
And after seeing the trouble some are having trying to use host automation I am glad I have not been tempted to try automating any of Diodow's parameters.

[cturner]

but I see nothing like the osc1-4pitch or global pitch parameters available in the Diodow mod matrix.

You’re welcome. Glad the info was of some help. I’m not that conversant, but did you look in the Reaper JSFX stuff? The pizmidi thing sounds like it did the trick, though.

As for an exposed pitch parameter—not near Diodow ATM—but doesn’t each oscillator have a FixedPitch control?

[TheNeverScene]

There's a few things missing in the mod matrix that I'd like to see that are probably in Tranzistow. ADSR mods would be great, especially with the oddities that come with the envelopes. Yeah, there's automation (not going there yet since things are finally seeming stable-ish), but throwing an lfo on a decay would be fun. I made a patch (Basic Saw Pluck 142b Init I think) that scooting the decay around morphed it from a saw pluck to a funky snare fill. Say wuh?!?! Unfortunately the patch got purposefully overwritten by mistake, but I have never seen anything like that. Definitely an "expect the unexpected" synth...I can dig that!

[Taron]

I really just noticed again, why it's so annoying with the patches, not saving with the song. If you want to listen to an older version, like I do sometimes, just to compare, you're out of luck unless you were saving tons of iterations with every little patch change. I don't do that, or at least haven't done that, because- well- I'm simply not that organized or willing to obsess like that. So, yeah... annoying.

Funny, TNS, because the first thing I lost was a fantastic snare I made, too, hahaha.

[TheNeverScene]

As for an exposed pitch parameter—not near Diodow ATM—but doesn’t each oscillator have a FixedPitch control?

It does, but it's hard fixed (no matter what key is played, it's a set frequency), so any pitch change would have to be 100% modulated. I'm not sure, but I don't think that's what Frostline had in mind. Great for drums and percs though. But hey, I'm probably completely wrong.

[TheNeverScene]

Yeah, Taron. It's a whole new level of perplexity! Total mind bender, crossword puzzle in reverse. At this rate, I'll be at the required 200 patches for the Tranzistow version in no time! I just hope usable patches aren't a prerequisite because I'm only up to about ten and a half on those.

[schiing]

In a way I like the patch system - I'm staying organized during this project in a way that I've never been on any former project. And in the end I'll have a neat little Windows folder with a (hopefully) perfectly matched soundbank template! On the other hand I must have created thousands of elaborate soundbank and setup templates over the years that I never use because it immediately feels like the template is forcing my hand.

[TheNeverScene]

For me, it's forcing me to save patches that I wouldn't normally save just to keep a grip on things. Probably because I never really actually save patches (unless I'm trying to mimic a certain something) and look at every sound as a new day. I do like the synth a lot, though, and the fact that everyone seems to be struggling with the same "what the..."s and "Oh no"s

I can see me using this a ton after creating the main gist of a track with something else, throwing DW or TW in for the element of surprise, and then replacing some original elements with whatever unorthodox concoction I stumbled on in the meantime.

Coming from heavy rock bands, I struggle with far out sound design using synths. I always look at it as something you should be able to play without 19 hands. This synth is helping me think outside of that without any automation at all. The quirky envelopes (I say that because without the visualization that Tranzistow apparently offers, the time/level continuum is a shot in the dark for me:).....they add a random flare without being so random.